League of Legends: Season 1 World Championship

Season 1 World Championship
2011
Tournament information
Sport	League of Legends
Location	Jönköping, Sweden
Dates	June 18–20, 2011
Administrator	Riot Games
Host(s)	DreamHack
Venue(s)	Elmia
Teams	8
Purse	US$100,000
Final positions
Champion	Fnatic
Runner-up	Against All Authority
Tournament statistics
Matches played	21
MVP	Maciej "Shushei" Ratuszniak
	2012 →

The League of Legends: Season 1 World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends, held from June 18 to 20, 2011, in Jönköping, Sweden. It was the first iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. The tournament was won by Fnatic, who defeated Against All Authority 2–1 in the final.

Background

League of Legends released in 2009, and after two years, it had built a strong community of players around its free-to-play model. However, the game lacked a full competitive experience until the introduction of ranked play and draft mode in mid-2010. Initially, only a handful of people at Riot believed in the future of competitive play, but as data suggested a growing viewership, the company decided to test the competitive landscape, organizing the first World Championship tournament in 2011, hosted by DreamHack in Jönköping, Sweden. Players brought their own computers, networked them together, and competed in front of fans.^[3]

Teams

Eight teams qualified for the World Championship: three from North America, three from Europe, one from Singapore, and one from the Philippines.^[4]

Region	Team
Europe	Against All Authority
	Gamed!de
	Fnatic
North America	Team SoloMid
	Epik Gaming
	Counter Logic Gaming
Singapore	Xan
Philippines	Team Pacific

Venues

Jönköping was selected as the host city for the World Championship.^[5]

Sweden
Jönköping, Sweden
Elmia Exhibition and Convention Centre
Capacity: 2,000

Jönköping

Group stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Qualification
1	Epik Gaming	3	3	0	1.000	Advance to knockout stage
2	Against All Authority	3	2	1	0.667	Advance to relegation matches
3	Fnatic	3	1	2	0.333	Advance to relegation matches
4	Team Pacific	3	0	3	0.000

Source: League of Legends (Archived 2013-01-11 at the Wayback Machine)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Qualification
1	Team SoloMid	3	2	1	0.667	Advance to knockout stage
2	Counter Logic Gaming	3	2	1	0.667	Advance to relegation matches
3	Gamed!de	3	1	2	0.333	Advance to relegation matches
4	Xan	3	1	2	0.333

Source: League of Legends (Archived 2013-01-11 at the Wayback Machine)

Relegation matches


Finals		Advance to knockouts



Against All Authority	2
		Against All Authority
Gamed!de	0



Counter Logic Gaming	1
		Fnatic
Fnatic	2



Fifth place



Gamed!de	0

Counter Logic Gaming	1

Source: League of Legends (Archived 2013-01-11 at the Wayback Machine)

Knockout stage


Upper semifinals		Upper final		Final



Team SoloMid	1

Against All Authority	2
		Against All Authority	0

		Fnatic	2
Epik Gaming	0

Fnatic	2
				Fnatic	2

				Against All Authority	1
Lower semifinal		Lower final



		Against All Authority	2

Team SoloMid	2	Team SoloMid	0

Epik Gaming	0

Source: League of Legends (Archived 2013-01-11 at the Wayback Machine)

Final standings

Place	Team	Prize money
1	Fnatic	$50,000
2	Against All Authority	$25,000
3	Team SoloMid	$10,000
4	Epik Gaming	$7,000
5	Counter Logic Gaming	$3,500
6	Gamed!de	$2,000
7–8	Team Pacific	$1,000
7–8	Xan	$1,000

Broadcast and viewership

The Season One World Championship accumulated over 1.6 million viewers and peaked at 210,000 concurrent viewers.^[6]

References

^ Senior, Tom (April 8, 2011). "League of Legends Season 1 Championship to have $100,000 prize pool". PC Gamer. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
^ Kim, Kyeongbeom; Hong, James (September 11, 2017). "Fun Facts from Worlds 2016: SKT T1 Faker dies again and again! The secret to their success?". InvenGlobal. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
^ Smith, Noah (November 7, 2019). "How the League of Legends World Championship became the Super Bowl of esports". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
^ Fulford, Nico (June 20, 2020). "LoL Worlds Season 1 retrospective - Where it all began". GGRecon. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
^ "Ten years of worlds: A League of Legends World Championship oral history". ESPN. September 24, 2020. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
^ Cooke, Taylor (October 11, 2018). "How the League of Legends World Championship Shaped an Entire Esport". The Esports Observer. Retrieved November 22, 2023.

[1] Senior, Tom (April 8, 2011). "League of Legends Season 1 Championship to have $100,000 prize pool". PC Gamer. Retrieved November 22, 2023.

[2] Kim, Kyeongbeom; Hong, James (September 11, 2017). "Fun Facts from Worlds 2016: SKT T1 Faker dies again and again! The secret to their success?". InvenGlobal. Retrieved November 22, 2023.

[3] Smith, Noah (November 7, 2019). "How the League of Legends World Championship became the Super Bowl of esports". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 22, 2023.

[4] Fulford, Nico (June 20, 2020). "LoL Worlds Season 1 retrospective - Where it all began". GGRecon. Retrieved November 22, 2023.

[5] "Ten years of worlds: A League of Legends World Championship oral history". ESPN. September 24, 2020. Retrieved November 22, 2023.

[6] Cooke, Taylor (October 11, 2018). "How the League of Legends World Championship Shaped an Entire Esport". The Esports Observer. Retrieved November 22, 2023.

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